Tea drinker? You may be in for double trouble

During all of this wild winter weather, nothing hits the spot like a cup of steaming fresh-brewed tea.

Of course, we’ve heard all about the health benefits of tea for quite a while now — green tea especially. But there’s a shocking extra ingredient that may be lurking in your brew.

I’m talking about fluoride, the chemical that can damage your teeth, bones, and brain… put your thyroid on the blink… and harm your heart, as well as just about every other organ in your body!

What a recent study found regarding tea and fluoride was alarming, to say the least.

And considering that approximately two-thirds of the American water supply is fluoridated, you might be drinking a double-dose of this toxin.

But — thank goodness! — there’s a way to get all of the health benefits (and comfort) from a mug of tea while avoiding the risks.

A toxic brew
While the U.S. doesn’t rank at the top of the list for big tea-drinking countries (quite surprisingly, No. 1 is Turkey), we still down the brew to the tune of close to 4 billion gallons a year!

And when you hear what’s turning up regarding the amount of fluoride in tea (even those instant iced ones!), that’s a lot of people who are getting a whopping dose of this poison.

Just-out research from the University of Florida discovered up to 6.9 mg/L (milligrams per liter) of fluoride in a sampling of 47 different types of tea (the highest content found in teas from Asia). That’s higher than what the EPA allows in tap water (4 mg/L)!

And that’s more than was found two years ago, when an international group of researchers found fluoride up to 6.1 mg/L in over 50 different brands of tea. As one of the scientists involved in that research commented, what they found could “readily exceed the levels known to cause chronic fluoride intoxication,” which can put your heart, liver, and kidneys at risk.

Plus that, a study done in 2013 across the pond (where they drink a lot of tea!) found that greater amounts of fluoride tend to be found in cheaper brands of tea — possibly, the researchers said, due to the fact that the leaves used in “economy teas” are older, whereas higher grade and specialty teas use the younger buds.

And that makes sense if you understand how the fluoride gets into the tea in the first place: Tea naturally takes up fluoride from the soil, so the longer the leaves have been on the plant, the more toxins you’ll find in them.

And the older leaves containing all of that fluoride also have the lowest levels of antioxidants.

Now, if you think that you can avoid those high levels of fluoride by drinking that oh-so-healthy green tea, not so fast! Green tea, it turns out, is just as subject to fluoride accumulation as black tea.

And as for those iced tea mixes that you’ll be reaching for before you know it, those can also contain large amounts of this toxin.

Of course, it might be hard to wrap your head around the idea that fluoride is a toxin. After all, it’s added to mouthwash, toothpaste, bottled water (even for babies), and, of course, the tap water many of us drink every day.

But forget all of the propaganda you’ve heard over the years about how fluoride protects your teeth from cavities. Due in large part to decades of misinformation flowing from the CDC and groups such as the American Dental Association, it’s sheer and utter baloney.

As we’ve told you right here in eAlert, despite the fact that the fluoride fable has managed to stick like super glue, it makes as much sense as believing in the tooth fairy!

Regardless of that nonsense, the truth of the matter is that the only safe amount of fluoride is none — as in zero.

But you don’t have to give up tea. All you have to do is change the kind you’re drinking.

White tea is made from young leaves, which are low in fluoride. And they also contain higher amounts of those healthy antioxidants!

Of course, herbal teas, since they aren’t made from actual tea leaves, won’t contain any fluoride, so they are a much safer bet as well.

No matter what kind of tea is in your pot or mug, however, if you’re brewing it in water that’s fluoridated, you’ll be drinking in even more of this poison.

So, the first step is to get it out with a reverse-osmosis filter.

“Excessive fluoride from some teas can damage bones and cause many health effects” January 10, 2018, News Medical Life Sciences, news-medical.net